I finished Kristin Luker's 1984 book, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood.
In
my latest reading, Luker discussed a variety of issues. She detailed
her methodology, as she specified what criteria she used in selecting
the pro-life and pro-choice activists to interview. Pro-choicers
were required to spend less time on their cause than pro-lifers to
qualify for participation in her interviews because many pro-choice
women did not have as much time to devote to their cause as pro-lifers,
since pro-choice women were busy at their professions. Moreover,
pro-lifers were more passionate about their cause because they were
seeking to change the status quo, whereas pro-choicers felt that they
had already attained a significant victory in Roe vs. Wade.
Luker said, however, that pro-choicers were becoming a little more
passionate, on account of the United States having an anti-abortion
President at the time, namely, Ronald Reagan. I'd say that pro-choicers were also passionate in 2012, on account of Republican politicians' comments and proposed legislation about abortion.
I
was disappointed that Luker did not talk much about the role of
evangelicals in the pro-life movement, and how abortion became an issue
of the religious right. But, the way Luker told it, Catholicism has
played a significant role in the pro-life movement. In its early days,
it was largely Catholic. And even later, there were a number of people
in the pro-life movement who were converts to Catholicism. Catholicism
should not be downplayed when it comes to the pro-life movement, but I
think that the evangelical presence in it should also be extensively
discussed.
Another point that Luker made was that many
women who choose abortion do not make their decision lightly. I think
that even pro-lifers should recognize this, because that would sensitize
them more to the need to help the women who are considering abortion,
so that the women could have their babies without great cost to
themselves. I applaud pro-lifers who actually do reach out to the women
who are struggling with the implications of having the baby.
I
thought that Luker's comments on pages 242-243 were especially
noteworthy. She's discussing what would happen if pro-lifers succeeded
in banning most abortions, which she thinks could very well happen on
account of pro-lifers' passionate commitment to their cause:
"In a
Prohibition-type situation, abortions would be nominally illegal, but
those with the right combination of money and information would be able
to get them. (And the combination would be important: a rich person in
the heartland of Iowa would probably have a harder time than a
middle-income person in New York with feminist connections.) Well-to-do
people in general would get better abortions, and the poor would get
worse ones. Every physician would have to interpret the law
individually, and great variation would result. States like California
would almost surely be liberal in interpreting the new law, and states
like Mississippi almost surely would not. Occasionally, some hapless
woman and her partner at the wrong place and the wrong time would be
caught, tried, and given the maximum allowable sentence as a way of
maintaining boundaries. Such cases would make the national headlines.
After several years of this, public opposition to the law would increase
to massive proportions, and the law would be repealed."
I've
heard or had conversations with pro-choicers who believe that a law
against abortion would be unfeasible. They don't think that such a law
would stop abortion because unexpected pregnancies and the cost of
bringing new children into the world would continue to exist. Plus,
they ask what the penalty for abortion would be. If the embryo is a
person, should there be a death penalty for those who take its life? My
impression is that many pro-lifers don't go that far.
I can sympathize with pro-lifers who want the government to make a
statement that life is sacred, for, if one human life is not considered
sacred, what assurance do we have that another human life would be
valued? But, even if abortion were outlawed, problems would still
exist.